How Big is BIG when it comes to Your Salary?

Written by Julie Holmwood

You know the size of your current salary and if you are like most people, you would probably like it to be a bit bigger … but how BIG can your salary go from here?

According to an article in today’s Daily Mail Newspaper there is a move to cap public sector salaries at a scale of 20:1. This means that the person at the top of that particular tree could earn a maximum of twenty times the salary of the person at the bottom. Salary ranges quoted went from Chief Executive to Cleaner

On the new 20:1 scale that would put the University Cleaner on £10,000. Probably a pretty good reflection of market rates.

Of course, they are the averages. One public sector Chief Executive is actually earning £260,000 whilst his cleaner gets £10,800 (24:1) and the highest paid Head Teacher is on £231,000 while their Teaching Assistant makes just £11,000 (21:1).

If this scale is agreed by government as the new ruling, will the big salaries come down, or will the lowest salaried people see themselves getting a higher than cost of living rise in salary?

All well and good whichever way it goes, but how will the public sector attract great bosses, when the salary levels are capped in such a way? Doesn’t seem so much of a big deal until you look at the private sector

On average a FTSE 100 company will pay their Chief Executive eighty-eight times the salary of their lowest paid employees (88:1). That means an organisation paying their cleaner a salary of £10,800 will be paying their Chief Executive a salary just shy of £1million.

The very highest example we heard of was Tesco, the supermarket giant. Their Chief Executive was said to be earning a multiple of nine hundred times that of the lowest paid employees on the shop floor (900:1). In 2008 Sir Terry Leahy received nearly £10million in cash and shares.

Thinking about my career options I think I am going to scrub my dream of heading up a local authority and go and take some courses on retail. What about you? Bigger salary anyone?

Are you planning your career path? Wondering how to get from here to where you want to be? Love what you do but wonder if there is another industry that would net a bigger salary? Just wish it were simple, that you could go to work and it all work out perfectly?

Churchill Brook want to get you on track to your dream. Working with you to create the map and then set a step-by-step plan, we help you make your life match your dream. To get to know us better or to now get started email us today